Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 137, NWS Columbia, SC

July 17, 2003Lexington County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 17, 2003, 4:22 PM EDT for Lexington County, South Carolina. It was in force for 38 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 17, 2003, 4:22 PM EDT (20:22 UTC)
Expired: Jul 17, 2003, 5:00 PM EDT
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Lexington County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 21 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:24 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 150 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 1771 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -40 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 824 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 3 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 8 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

617 
WUUS52 KCAE 172022
SVRCAE
SCC063-172100-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
422 PM EDT THU JUL 17 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
    SOUTHERN LEXINGTON COUNTY IN CENTRAL SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 500 PM EDT.

* AT 414 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER GASTON..MOVING SOUTHWEST AT 10 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...        
  PELION

LAT...LON 3376 8104 3391 8115 3385 8152 3374 8140
          3367 8122

LCV

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Columbia, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 17, 1:40 PM EDT, 2 hours 42 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 17, 1:40 PM EDT, 2 hours 42 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
140 PM EDT THU JUL 17 2003

WEAK FRONT STALL NEAR LANCASTER COUNTY. WEAK TROUGH OVER THE EASTERN
COUNTIES. STRONG INSTABILITY OVER THE AREA. NOT MUCH UPPER LEVEL
ENERGY THIS AFTERNOON OR FRIDAY. AS A RESULT EXPECT WIDELY SCATTERED
THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING NORTH AND EAST WITH ISOLATED ELSEWHERE.
MOISTURE MAINLY AT LOW LEVELS THIS EVENING AND FRIDAY. A LITTLE
BETTER CHANCE OF SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY
AS ANOTHER WEAK FRONT APPROACHES FROM THE NORTHWEST. LONGWAVE TROUGH
CONTINUES OVER THE EASTERN U.S. WITH SHORTWAVES ROTATING THROUGH THE
BASE OVER THE AREA. PATTERN UNSETTLED EARLY TO MID NEXT WEEK AS
MOISTURE INCREASES. SOME INDICATIONS OF DRYING TREND INDICATED
BEYOND MID NEXT WEEK AS LONGWAVE TROUGH AMPLIFIES SLIGHTLY AND MOVES
EAST. TEMPERATURES CONTINUING NEAR NORMAL.

FCSTID =   30
CAE   73  92  72  89 /  10  20  30  30
AGS   72  92  71  90 /  10  20  30  30
SSC   73  92  72  90 /  10  20  30  30
OGB   73  92  73  90 /  10  20  30  30

.CAE...
GA...NONE.
SC...NONE.

RCC

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 17, 4:46 AM EDT, 11 hours 36 minutes before

GAZ040-063>065-077-SCZ015-016-018-020>022-025>031-035>038-041-171045-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
446 AM EDT THU JUL 17 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE MIDLANDS OF SOUTH CAROLINA
AND THE CENTRAL SAVANNAH RIVER AREA.

.DAY ONE...

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Columbia, SC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 17, 4:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Sumter	44 min
Jul 17, 4:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Calhoun	43 min
Jul 17, 5:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Kershaw	23 min
Jul 17, 5:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Orangeburg	42 min
Jul 17, 6:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Bamberg	51 min
Jul 17, 7:37 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Lexington	38 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 2003 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2003

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.